Holiday Shopping Gift Guide Sex License? City Closes Sex Club 2005

The Body Politic
City Closes Sex Club
Shock or Shlock? Last month, Philadelphia’s KYW-TV3
news, a CBS affiliate, aired a segment “exposing” the goings-on
inside of a local sex club. The group in question happened to
be Club Kama Sutra, a couples organization that for the past five
years, has met on the weekends in a restaurant building in South
Philadelphia. Although the club and its members had previously
appeared and been interviewed on television, on radio and in local
newspapers years before, the anchors at Channel 3 claimed
to have “discovered” illicit activity and further bragged that they
were responsible for alerting authorities and having the club shut
down. Citing fire code violations, an inspector for the Philadelphia
Department of Licenses & Inspections, initially ordered the
building closed. Additionally, authorities issued a Cease-and-
Desist order citing the club’s
lack of a “zoning use” for
sexual conduct.
Would you, could you in
a ... ~ If you search for “sex
permit” on the City’s website,
www.phila.gov, you will not
find one single item, but according
to the Department of
L&I, our “City of Brotherly
Love” won’t allow any
mixing it up without an
unobtainable “use license”
for adult activity. What is
this permit? How does one
acquire a “license to thrill” in
our fair town without hiring
strippers or installing vending
machines that play blue movies?
Are hotels required to
have special permits in order
for their guests to get it on?
What about other restaurants
and nightclubs where people
slink into the bathroom stalls
or dark corners to play? Are
they at risk for being shut
down by L&I if their randy
patrons take liberties with
each other? Do sex therapists
need a “use permit” to examine
and treat the disfunctions
of their patients? Do educators need a special license to teach students
the “ins and outs” of sexual health? Do organizers of proms,
wedding receptions, and other private affairs need to hire “sex
police” to prevent co-mingling? For that matter, could a group of
friends who pitch in to cover catering in a private home
for a private sex party risk an invasion of their home?
Who needs an “adult entertainment” or use license and
what then are licensees entitled to do?
22 Crime and punishment ~Who are the victims here? Although
no criminal charges have been filed as of now, one
must wonder what the city authorities hope to protect
its taxpayers from? There were never any public displays of indecency,
since club meetings were held in a private space for members
only who signed consent forms indicating that they were
not offended by sex. One of the nice things CKS provided for its
member was gourmet quality food in their restaurant clubhouse-
- they operated as a BYOB restaurant which is not subject to the
nudity laws of Pennsylvania’s Liquor Control Board. What crime
did the members of this club commit against the public, the media
or the authorities that warranted the invasion of their property and
the non-consensual filming of their guests (though blurred) for the
sadistic voyeurism of Channel 3 and its viewers?
Sextual rites vs sexual rights ~ Doctors can force ejaculation
in immobile or paralyzed male patients using machinery that is
inserted into the anus.
Is this activity considered
sex that would require
a special permit?
Men who contribute to
sperm banks often masturbate
into cups. Does
the provision of these
same donors with erotic
material equal obscenity
in the eyes of the law?
Citing “better behavior”
on the part of male
studs, prize dogs are often
masturbated before
American Kennel Club
shows; does this practice
constitue bestiality?
If so, should such activity
require a permit on
the part of dog handlers?
Freedom of assembly,
association and expression
are inalienable constitutional
rights guaranteed
to Americans in the
First Amendment of our
Constitution, but in issues
of sex, the federal
and local courts have
often wavered. Local
governments have upheld
laws that outlaw adult activities from homosexual sodomy
and masturbation to the sale of sex toys. Consensual sex between
adults was only recently recognized by the US Supreme court as
a protected private act. How is it that here in our nation’s birthplace,
we are slow to respect the rights of even married couples to
buy a frisky all-inclusive night away from the kids in safe spaces
like Club Kama Sutra?
Fight for your to better relationships and healthy sex ~
Doctors, educators, fashion magazines, and television shows encourage
couples to engage in healthy sexual experimentation.
Scientists are studying and trying
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